Portland/Cromwell able to overpower Lewis Mills

BURLINGTON — Portland/Cromwell ran over Lewis Mills on the ground, in the air and on defense in a 55-7 wipeout at Lewis Mills High School Saturday afternoon.

In a steady stream of touchdowns, the Panthers’ first three scores came on the ground with two firstquarter scoring runs by junior Justin Stergos (11 carries, 115 yards) and a one-yard dash by sophomore Bryan Lockwood to start the second-quarter onslaught.

Then, three-year starting quarterback Bryce Karstetter (9-for-13, 249 yards) took to the air for a 70-yard pass/ run to Nick Wright and a 25-yard bomb to Stergos.

Lewis Mills interrupted with a 30-yard strike from quarterback Grayson LaBerge to Cooper Mattielo, hitting the scoreboard with four seconds left in the first half.

But the second half featured more Panther weapons. After Karstetter’s connection to Stergos, he hit sophomore Ethan Wilson for a 47-yard pass/run to end the C/P first-unit scoring.

The second unit was just waiting its turn. Sophomore

Cam Latronica went in from the one midway through the final period. Three minutes later, freshman Teddy Wilson stripped the ball from a Mills carrier, running it in 20 yards for the final score.

“We’ve got just five seniors starting on defense, along with a freshman starter,” said Panther coach Randell Bennett. “After

going 8-2, 10-2 and 8-2 in the last three seasons, our main job is to keep the team focused. We have specific goals we’re trying to accomplish each week.”

“We’re undersized against most teams, but we have a lot of athletes and we work hard,” said quarterback Kerstetter. “And we have great coaches. Most of them played at big time colleges.”

“We’re young and inexperienced,” said Mills coach

John Oko. “We had a few successes here and there today, but, by and large, it was bad.”

Cromwell/Portland is now 3-0. Lewis Mills is 0-3.